355: yoga

Tonight, first night at yoga, which will occupy my time as the sun sets on Thursdays. I felt humbled, being a beginner amongst regulars, but this is how a small town yoga studio works--those sessions roll over into one another, little tumbling blocks. My body cooperated on most levels, which pleased me, despite my tender ankle and clumsy ways. And I left breathing much slower, wanting to raise my arms slowly over my head at each inhale, lowering them slowly at each exhale. And even though my muscles ached a little, my body mostly felt softer, more liquid afterward.

Today was beautiful, with clear blue skies, a bright and warming sun, the dogs burying their noses in the boulevard brush.

My body is changing, I know, as I make my way into more peaceful practice. It's feeling better as I consume more vegetables, as I breathe more deeply, as I get more fresh air, as I move and move and move. I may have gotten to the other side of stress; this doesn't mean anything stress-related is over or resolved, but just that I'm finding ways to do things that perhaps aren't fraught with consequences or criticisms or serious results. Instead, I knit little objects for holiday presents. I experiment with felting. I try a new recipe. I take walks, take photos, take field notes. I try yoga. Broadening, yes. But not in the bad way, of course.

354: new recipe wednesday

I'm headed in a food direction my husband frowns upon, but mostly in a teasing way. I was vegetarian for something like seven years, and the last three or so I have been eating meat again. It was a bit of a relief for family and friends--they didn't have to factor my meatless appetite into dinner plans. Ryan was glad to use one pan for cooking together. But it appears my mind and my body want to go back, and there's no denying it. Already, I've reduced myself to just fish and poultry; and I know I'll only miss the Osso Bucco at Staghead (so good) and corned beef and cabbage. I know, when I go back to being vegetarian, I'll miss clam chowder the most.

So, for now, as Ryan requested, I am trying a chicken curry recipe for our dinner.

Chicken Curry Indian Style

Ingredients:
- 3 1/2 pounds chicken
- 6 tbsp. natural yogurt
- 2 med. onions, grated
- 1/2 tsp. fresh ginger, grated
- 1 tsp. tumeric powder
- 1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
- 1 1/2 tbsp. cooking oil
- 1/2 tsp. cumin seeds
- 2 1/2 tsp. salt to taste
- 2 med. potatoes, peeled and halved


Steps:

1. Take off skin of chicken and cut into pieces. Wash pieces. Now, in a glass bowl, mix chicken with yogurt, onions, ginger, tumeric, cayenne pepper, and oil. Marinate for at least half an hour.

2. Heat oil in saucepan. Fry potatoes until they are golden brown. Set aside. Fry cumin seed in same oil for a minute or so. Pour chicken with marinade into pan. Fry for three to four minutes.

3. Pour contents of saucepan into casserole dish. Place potatoes over the meat, cover it and put into a preheated 300-degree oven and cook for 50-60 minutes. Check for tenderness.

Note: You can omit the potatoes and just cook the chicken. Just add one cup of water and cook over medium heat until tender.


I had mine with a spinach salad with carrots and mushrooms. The curry turned out fine--nothing thrilling and not terrible either. Just an alarming mustard color.

I think I'm going to attempt a new recipe on Wednesdays; it's my day "off," and it's good for me as another one of those finding peace measures--a calming experience working with raw ingredients, getting my hands dirty, trying to work with new things. Curry is tricky, I fully admit. I'd like to work with new vegetables and whatnot on Wednesdays too--things completely new to me. I think this will help remind me of how important it is to make wise decisions for the body, to take care of it as best I can.

If anyone wishes to join me in new recipe Wednesday, I welcome it! Tell me what's new in your kitchen. xo


I'll start a little Flickr set right here.

353: a collector in the field

Top: Flickr Favorites, 1. white clover, 2. found, 3. seagull soup, 4. Untitled
Bottom: my image, from two springs ago

I like to bring things home with me when I go for walks, little bits I collect on the ground--pine branches, birch, small and perfectly formed pine cones, put them on ledges and gaze, remembering that walk, that moment of being calm and outside.

These days, I feel a bit tilted. This is usually what happens when one runs into this time of the semester--two months, full-steam, or nearly-full, edging out at the end of month two--and I hit some kind of blank, invisible wall, something that confuses all the balls I have in the air, and I feel a desperate need to right myself. Or hide. One of the two.

I've been reading a biography on Emily Dickinson and I love that she had two collections in her life: the first, of course, are her prolific poems, but the second is a pressed wildflower collection, complete with identification cards and labels.

What a wrong time of year for me to start to fantasize about pressing wildflowers.

But a lovely time for me to go to the library, perhaps on my day "off", this Wednesday, and pour over those guides, immerse myself in springtime, give myself some green and light when the days seem to be folding in on themselves and hibernation approaches.

352: BJ + Lynn got married

Rehearsal dinner at Water Street Brewery.

I had to keep my hands busy. As a person who no longer drinks alcohol or smokes or any of those other deliciously naughty things, I had to keep my hands busy somehow, and there's only so much water one can drink before bursting like a balloon. Plus, I wanted to show off my beautiful Uniform Studio scarf!

There were two cakes: banana with chocolate and mine, which I loved, marble with raspberry filling. Yum.

The couple before what Wisconsinites call "The Grand March," which comes just after dinner and leads the wedding party to the dance floor. We did a grand entrance at our wedding, which led us to our dinner table, which our non-dancing friends were probably a bit glad for. Why are their mouths like that? Because they have plastic fangs in there. :)

This is the Luxemburg-Casco crew (see the L-C they are supposedly making with their hands)--all friends from high school. There's something about friends who date back to those years, the ways in which you can change and grow (and regress, in some cases) and still adore one another because you have those layers of memory to support it all. It's nice to know you have someone on your side no matter what. This, by the way, is Ryan's high school crew. In a strange twist of serendipity, one of my high school crew also happens to be friends with the couple (her husband was room mates with BJ), so I had a little of that high school nostalgia too.

There was a dance-off to see who would win funniest contest. After Jeff did some break-dancing, he won.


We had the cake top as part of brunch; the bakery is making the couple a new cake for their one year anniversary.

And those are just a few glimpses at the Halloween wedding we attended near Milwaukee this past weekend. I can say that Ryan and I seem to be getting pathetically old--we were some of the first to leave of our friends, and we fell asleep watching a haunted gingerbread house competition on the food network.

351

I've had a small run of small things that, in a small way, aren't so pleasant--forgetting important things in the car or at home and realizing it only when I've reached the classroom, becoming extra-sick on the medication, and on my recent walk with the dogs, spraining my ankle.

Those brownies above? I'm going to remember them today. Ryan made them, and I promised to bring some in to the students who could put together a bibliography the fastest (and most correct), but then I left them in my car. The same day, I forgot my attendance list in my office (the same floor of the same building, thank goodness) and the printer ran out of ink, so I had no handouts.

It's just comically ridiculous, I suppose--these little things that add up to some serious adaptation. Fortunately, I am not the sort of instructor who puts out a stuffy demeanor to my students, so I can roll with these twists (oh, pained ankle!) with some humor and grace.

Today, outside, it is cold and rainy, and I won't go on my daily walk, not because I am discouraged by bad weather, but because my ankle is tender, only a little swollen, not so bad that I cannot get around easily but enough that I'd prefer not to let this klutz go out and make things worse, which is what I'd probably do--retwist to a greater degree. Don't doubt the power of the girl who walks into walls.

350: a return to memorial bluff

I spent the afternoon fairly floored by that daily dose, and to cheer me up, Ryan invited me along on his daily walk with the dogs, which has taken him back to Memorial Bluff again and again, while it is still light in the evenings. A few field notes in this post on the walking blog.